CN107367681B

CN107367681B - Probe card module

Info

Publication number: CN107367681B
Application number: CN201610990975.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 赖鸿尉; 李宗润
Original assignee: Sync-Tech System Corp
Current assignee: Sync-Tech System Corp
Priority date: 2016-05-12
Filing date: 2016-11-10
Publication date: 2020-01-03
Anticipated expiration: 2036-11-10
Also published as: KR20170128071A; TWI601960B; CN107367681A; KR101918277B1; TW201740123A

Abstract

The invention discloses a probe card module, which comprises: a plurality of conductive probes; a printed circuit board having a non-circular upper surface and a non-circular lower surface and including a conductive trace connecting the plurality of conductive probes; the probe fixing seat is arranged on the lower surface of the printed circuit board and is used for fixing the plurality of conductive probes; and a plurality of circuit chips disposed on the upper surface of the printed circuit board.

Description

Probe card module

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a probe card.

Background

In the manufacturing process of integrated circuit devices, electrical tests are performed before die cutting or Device packaging, and power supply signals and test signals provided by a Tester (Tester) are transmitted to a Device Under Test (DUT), usually through a probe card; the power signal is used for supplying power to the element to be tested, and the test signal is used for detecting the element to be tested.

The junction structure of the conventional probe card module 10 can be seen in fig. 1A and 1B, in which fig. 1A is a cross-sectional view thereof and fig. 1B is a top view thereof. The probe card module 10 has a printed circuit board 12 as a main structure, conductive probes 11 are fixed below the printed circuit board 12 by probe holders 13, and the printed circuit board 12 is fixed to a probe card holder 14. The probe card holder 14 has a central opening through which the conductive probes 11 can touch down test pads (Testing pads) of a device under test (not shown) when the printed circuit board 12 is mounted on the probe card holder 14.

Generally, the top view profile of the probe card is substantially the same as the shape and size of the device wafer to be tested; that is, if the device under test is an 8 "wafer, the printed circuit board 12 would be a circular disk with a diameter of about 8". In addition, in order to align the probe card holder 14 on the tester, an upper positioning Pin (Alignment Pin)15 and a lower positioning Pin (Alignment Pin)15 are generally provided in the probe card holder 14; of course, the distance between the upper and lower positioning pins 15 must be larger than the diameter D0 of the printed circuit board 12.

When the integrated circuit manufacturing technology is upgraded, for example, from 8-inch wafer manufacturing to 12-inch wafer manufacturing, the tester is often upgraded entirely, which causes a large cost burden. Therefore, the present invention attempts to improve the probe card and the probe card holder based on the software system of the original testing machine, so as to achieve the electrical test required for upgrading the integrated circuit manufacturing technology with the least cost. For the existing probe card module technology, refer to taiwan patent nos. TW M270488, TWI287634, TW I453846, CN 1665011, and US 606060892, which are all completely different from the technical solutions in the present disclosure.

Disclosure of Invention

One of the objectives of the present invention is to solve the problem that when the ic manufacturing technology is upgraded, the probe card module (including the probe card and the probe card holder) therein can be improved mainly by the hardware mechanism based on the software system of the original test machine, so as to achieve the electrical test required by the ic manufacturing technology upgrade with the least cost

According to an aspect of the present invention, an embodiment provides a probe card module, including: a plurality of conductive probes; a printed circuit board having a non-circular upper surface and a non-circular lower surface and including a conductive trace connecting the plurality of conductive probes; a probe fixing seat arranged below the lower surface of the printed circuit board and used for fixing the plurality of conductive probes; and a plurality of circuit chips disposed on the upper surface of the printed circuit board.

In one embodiment, the circuit chips are connected with conductive traces in the printed circuit board.

In one embodiment, the circuit chip is a single-pole double-throw switch or an operational amplifier.

In one embodiment, the non-circular upper surface of the printed circuit board has a first straight line side, a second straight line side parallel to the first straight line side, a first arc side and a second arc side bilaterally symmetrical to the first arc side.

In one embodiment, a first circle has a first diameter, a second circle has a second diameter greater than the first diameter, the first arc-shaped edge and the second arc-shaped edge are both partial arc-shaped edges of the second circle, the first diameter is equal to the distance between the first straight line edge and the second straight line edge, and the plurality of circuit chips are disposed on the region between the first circle and the first arc-shaped edge or the region between the first circle and the second arc-shaped edge.

Drawings

FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view of a conventional probe card module;

FIG. 1B is a top view of a conventional probe card module;

FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of a probe card module according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2B is a top view of a structure of a probe card module according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2C is a top view of the PCB of the present embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of an embodiment of a plurality of circuit chips.

Description of reference numerals: 10. 100-a probe card module; 11. 110-conductive probes; 12. 120-a printed circuit board; 121-a first straight edge; 122-a second straight edge; 123-a first arc edge; 124-a second arc edge; 125-upper surface; 126-lower surface; 127-left arc zone; 128-right arc zone; 13. 130-a probe holder; 14. 140-probe card holder; 15. 151, 152-locating pins; 160-circuit chip; 161-single pole double throw switch; 162-an operational amplifier; 171-first circle; 172-second circle.

Detailed Description

For further understanding and appreciation of the features, objects, and functions of the present invention, reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same element numbers will be used throughout the description and drawings to refer to the same or like elements.

In the description of the various embodiments, when an element is described as being "above/on" or "below/under" another element, it is referred to the case where it is directly or indirectly on or under the other element, which may include other elements disposed therebetween; "directly" means that no other intervening elements are disposed therebetween. The description of "above/up" or "below/under" etc. is illustrated with reference to the drawings, but also includes other possible directional transitions. The terms "first," "second," and "third" are used to describe various elements, which are not limited by such terms. For convenience and clarity of illustration, the thickness or size of each element in the drawings is exaggerated, omitted, or schematically shown, and the size of each element is not completely the actual size thereof.

Fig. 2A and 2B are schematic structural views of a probe card module 100 according to an embodiment of the invention, wherein fig. 2A is a cross-sectional view thereof, and fig. 2B is a top view thereof. The probe card module 100 includes: a plurality of conductive probes 110, a printed circuit board 120, a probe holder 130, a probe card holder 140, and a plurality of circuit chips 160; the plurality of conductive probes 110, the printed circuit board 120, the probe holder 130 and the plurality of circuit chips 160 are combined to form a so-called "probe card" in the technical field, which can be fixed to a probe card tester (Prober, not shown) by using the probe card holder 140 to perform an electrical test on a wafer to be tested.

The printed circuit board 120 may be a multi-layer printed circuit board including conductive traces connected to the plurality of conductive probes 110 and serving as a main structure of the probe card. For a conventional probe card, as shown in fig. 1B, the printed circuit board 120 has a circular outline in top view, and the diameter D0 is about the size of the device wafer to be tested, for example, 8 inches. In contrast to the present embodiment, the top view profile of the printed circuit board 120 is not circular; for example, as shown in fig. 2B, the printed circuit board 120 has four sides: a first straight line edge 121, a second straight line edge 122 positioned at the other side of the first straight line edge 121, a first arc edge 123 and a second arc edge 124 positioned at the other side of the first arc edge 123; the first straight edge 121 is parallel to the second straight edge 122, and the first arc edge 123 and the second arc edge 124 are symmetrical to each other.

The shape of the top view profile of the printed circuit board 120 is described in further detail below. As shown in fig. 2C, assume that there are two virtual circles on the printed circuit board 120: a first circle 171 having a first diameter D1 and a second circle 172 having a second diameter D2, wherein the first diameter D1 is smaller than the second diameter D2, and the first diameter D1 is equal to the distance between the first straight side 121 and the second straight side 122, such that the first arc-shaped side 123 is the arc of the left half of the second circle 172, the second arc-shaped side 124 is the arc of the right half of the second circle 172, the first straight side 121 is the upper tangent of the first circle 171, and the second straight side 122 is the lower tangent of the first circle 171.

For example, assuming that the original prober is designed for 8-inch wafers, when the integrated circuit manufacturing technology is upgraded from 8-inch wafers to 12-inch wafers, the electrical test work using the technology provided in this embodiment can laterally expand the printed circuit board of the original 8-inch probe card from left to right under the existing structure of the original 8-inch prober, and simultaneously expand the original 8-inch probe card holder to a width of 12 inches, but the internal structure thereof can still be used as the holder of the expanded printed circuit board. At this time, as shown in fig. 2B and 2C, the first diameter D1 may be 8 inches, the second diameter D2 may be 12 inches, and since the longitudinal direction of the pcb 120 is not enlarged and maintained at a width of 8 inches, the positions of the positioning pins 151 and 152 do not need to be changed, and thus additional cost is not increased due to the above change.

In addition, the probe fixing base 130 can be disposed on the lower surface 126 of the printed circuit board 120 for fixing the plurality of conductive probes 110. The circuit chips 160 can be disposed on the upper surface 125 of the pcb 120, and particularly can be disposed on the left arc 127 and the right arc 128 as shown in fig. 2C, which are two regions enclosed by the first straight edge 121, the second straight edge 122, the first circle 171 and the second circle 172, compared to the pcb 12 of fig. 1B, which is an extra surface region of the pcb 120, and can be used to design extra circuits to expand the functions of a tester or a pin tester.

In this embodiment, the circuit chips 160 are disposed on the left arc 127 and the right arc 128, wherein the circuit chips 160 can be further connected to the conductive traces of the printed circuit board 120. For example, the plurality of circuit chips 160 may be single-pole double-throw switches 161 or operational amplifiers 162, which are connected to reduce the load (loading) of the object to be tested as shown in fig. 3. Without limitation, the plurality of circuit chips 160 and their connections may be other circuits for extending the functions of a tester or a pin tester.

In summary, when the integrated circuit manufacturing technology is upgraded, for example, from 8-inch wafer manufacturing to 12-inch wafer manufacturing, the electrical testing machine can be completely upgraded without high investment cost; by adopting the technical scheme of the invention, the electrical test required by the upgrading of the integrated circuit manufacturing technology can be realized on the basis of the software system of the original test machine only by changing the probe card module, namely enlarging the probe card and the probe card holder, and even circuits with other expansion functions can be designed and manufactured on the extra area of the enlarged probe card.

The above description is only for the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the present invention. Rather, these embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed.

Claims

1. A probe card module, comprising:

a plurality of conductive probes;

the upper surface of the printed circuit board is provided with a first straight line edge, a second straight line edge positioned on the other side of the first straight line edge, a first arc edge and a second arc edge positioned on the other side of the first arc edge;

a probe fixing seat arranged on the lower surface of the printed circuit board and used for fixing the plurality of conductive probes; and

and the circuit chips are arranged on the upper surface of the printed circuit board.

2. The probe card module of claim 1, wherein the plurality of circuit chips are connected to the conductive traces in the printed circuit board.

3. The probe card module of claim 1, wherein the plurality of circuit chips are single pole double throw switches or operational amplifiers.

4. The probe card module of claim 1, wherein the first straight edge is parallel to the second straight edge, and the first circular arc edge is bilaterally symmetric to the second circular arc edge.

5. The probe card module of claim 1, wherein a first circle has a first diameter, a second circle has a second diameter larger than the first diameter, the first arc edge and the second arc edge are both partial arc edges of the second circle, the first diameter is equal to a distance between the first straight edge and the second straight edge, and the plurality of circuit chips are disposed on a region between the first circle and the first arc edge or a region between the first circle and the second arc edge.